Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt objected Wednesday to the city's use of outside auditors, saying her office could do the reviews of municipal agencies for less money and with greater independence.
Her comments came as the Board of Estimates approved spending more than $400,000 for performance and financial audits of three key city agencies, under a provision required by a recent charter amendment.
"We wouldn't be here today if the Department of Audits had been sufficiently funded as mandated by the charter," Pratt said, explaining her reason for casting the lone "no" vote on the five-member board. "The problem would have been solved if you had given us the money to perform all the audits."
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake took issue with Pratt's criticism, saying her administration was implementing a measure required by both the City Council and voters.
"I didn't support it, but I heard from the council and I heard from the public when they overwhelmingly approved the charter amendment," the mayor said after the meeting. "Now, it's up to us to implement it.
"To rehash that conversation about who should or who shouldn't be conducting audits, I think, is a waste of time, because the people have spoken."
City Council members, frustrated that some Baltimore departments had not undergone agency-wide performance and financial audits in decades, put the issue on the 2012 ballot. Voters approved a charter amendment that requires the city's 13 key agencies to undergo such audits every four years.
Under the amendment, agencies have the choice of being audited by the comptroller's office or one of four outside firms. The audits must be completed by the end of 2016.
The first departments to undergo the performance and financial reviews will be Finance, Recreation and Parks, Police, Public Works and Transportation, according to the mayor's office.
The city will pay Hamilton Enterprises LLC to audit the Transportation Department; SB & Co. LLC to audit Recreation and Parks; and city auditors, who report to Pratt, to audit the Finance Department.
The mayor's staff provided data to show that both the budget for the Department of Audits and its number of employees has increased under Rawlings-Blake's tenure. But Pratt disputed the assertion that the agency has sufficient resources, pointing to the higher costs for pensions and raises.
The comptroller noted that the administration has prevented her from hiring staff for several vacant auditing jobs, which Pratt says are necessary.
Pratt's Department of Audits typically conducts 10 to 20 audits a year, though its website has not been updated to report on such work in nearly two years.
Her office performs more annual audits than Baltimore's surrounding counties and some similar-sized cities, such as Oklahoma City and Tucson, Ariz., but fewer than others, such as San Francisco, Las Vegas and Washington.
On Wednesday, Pratt and the city's top auditors expressed concern about the Rawlings-Blake administration's involvement in the process to select the outside firms and develop the terms of the reviews.
"It is not necessary to hire an outside auditing firm, particularly when it is clear in doing so it will affect the integrity of the auditing process," Pratt said. "The audit process is required to be independent without influence, whether it's real or perceived."
Rawlings-Blake said her administration has worked with both the comptroller's office and Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young in the implementation of the charter amendment.
Young has said he would prefer that the reviews be conducted by the comptroller's office, but his spokesman Lester Davis said Wednesday that Young is ready to see the process move forward.
Councilman Carl Stokes, who first called for the regularly scheduled audits, said he also would prefer that the comptroller's office perform the audits.
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